I’m not one to just openly bash players or coaches, but frankly I’m
getting weary and angry of constantly writing about dangerous and
illegal hits instead of actually covering hockey. So when I watched the
James Wisniewski hit on Brent Seabrook last night, I just sighed to
myself and readied myself for another debate on illegal hits and the
NHL’s punishment system.

Personally, I am a stern believer that
any dangerous hits in hockey should be sternly dealt with immediately
and with increasingly severe punishments. I don’t want hockey to become a
‘wimpy’ sport, but I also don’t want this sport that I love to brought
to the general public’s attention only when there is a shockingly bad
hit to cover.

What really irks me is when teams turn a blind eye
to the transgressions one of their players has committed. I am all for
defending your teammates and your players, but there is also a
responsibility of the coaches and leaders on the team to not promote the
dangerous plays we’re seeing with more and more frequency in the NHL.

“That
is the hot topic and it probably will get looked at,” Wisniewski
said. “I think the result wasn’t because of a shot to the head. I’m
5-11. He’s 6-3. I really think what happened was my face hit his face.
That’s why I got a slit right here because of the visor came down and
hit me right in the face too after we collided heads.”

“There’ll
be lots of banter back and forth on whether the hit was this
or the hit was that,” the coach said. “Bottom line is that he hit the
hockey player. He used his body, his arms were down and he made a hard
hit on a player. We’ll let other people make those decisions.”

“Nothing surprises you in the way these things are dealt with,” CoachRandy Carlyle said. “There’s a criteria that the
league follows. We have always taken the stance that we don’t always
have to agree with what the league decision is.

“We have our point of view. We have ample video. We’ll watch it and
analyze it. We’ll plead our case if there needs to be a case pleaded.”

Here’s the reality of the hit: Wisniewski had Seabrook lined up for a
big hit from the top of the faceoff circle. He wasn’t looking at the
puck at all; if he had been, he would have realized that Seabrook never
had the puck to begin with. He was focused on Seabrook and determined to
lay him out with a big hit.

It’s true that their faces seemed to be the first to collide. But his
arms weren’t necessarily down, as he and his coach claim. Take a look
at the picture above (this is the best quality I could get of this exact
moment as they collided). His arm was not the first to make contact,
but his arms were raised and they drove Seabrook’s head hard into the
boards.

To think that NHL should not take action for this hit is delusional.
This is an even more clear-cut illegal hit that should result in a
suspension, much more so than the Ovechkin hit. And the NHL cannot claim
they have no rule to fall back on here: charging, boarding, intent to
injure. You name it.

It’s not like this should be anything new for the Ducks. To say they
have an unsavory reputation when it comes to dirty hits is just a bit of
an understatement.

I understand that the Ducks want to defend their player. But don’t
just turn a blind eye to, and pretty much promote, what’s driving this
league straight into the ground.

New Jersey Devils forward Miles Wood took off his responsible thinking cap on Saturday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

In the second period, Woods came barrelling in on the Lightning forward Vladislav Namestnikov. The latter had already ushered the puck up the ice, and with his back turned to Woods, the Devils sophomore appeared to leave his feet, driving his shoulder into the nameplate of Namestnikov’s jersey.

If that wasn’t enough, Andrej Sustr came in to defend his teammate and paid the price at the hands of Wood, who broke his visor with a punch, leaving Sustr bloodied.

Wood was given a boarding minor on the play and an additional two minutes for roughing after he left Sustr in a mess. It wouldn’t be at all shocking if Wood is summoned by the NHL’s player safety department.

Both Namestnikov and Sustr had to leave the game, but both returned in the third period.

“It’s extremely frustrating, to have what seems like every single one of these calls go against us in the past two years is just unbelievable,” Talbot lamented to the media. “I’ve never seen anything like it. We challenge a goal, it stands. They challenge a goal on us for some reason it’s always waved off.

“I just don’t understand it, it’s the exact same play that we had last week against L.A. where the guy clips my blocker. We challenge and it’s still a goal. Last year in the playoffs against Corey Perry, same play, takes my blocker with him, puck goes blocker side and it’s still a goal on us. There’s just no consistency and I’m f***ing sick of it.”

“The fact that every single goal is disallowed against us and every single call or every single time we challenge it’s still upheld. I don’t f***ing get it. They’re the same f***ing plays every time and for some reason, the call goes against us these past two years. We haven’t won one challenge in the past two years. It’s ridiculous. I just don’t get it.”

This looks one part frustration and another part sour grapes. There have been some blown calls this season, for sure, including against the Oilers.

Meanwhile, Talbot’s Oilers were shutout for the seventh time this season. They continue to wildly underachieve, despite having names like McDavid and Draisaitl. And they have to watch former teammates like Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle light it up with their new teams.

Sure, Talbot and Co. can blame it a host of external issues. But he and the Oilers have to start looking within. They didn’t become bottom feeders because a goal got overturned.

The Avs get their All-Star back at a time they need him most. Colorado sits three points back of the Minnesota Wild for the second wildcard spot in the Western Conference with 25 games to play.

“You get your best player back, it’s positive, no question” Colorado coach Jared Bednar told Sadowski. “He drives our offense in a lot of ways, 5-on-5, power play. We need him back, but we can’t just rely on Nate. It’s not just going to magically turn around here in our favor just because he’s back in our lineup.”

The Avs also found out that Alexander Kerfoot is a quality young center within their organization.

“He’s been pretty good,” Bednar said from Winnipeg on Friday. “It’s a big hole to fill, a big job playing in that No. 1 spot. For a young guy coming in an elevating his game as the year goes on, I think he’s been pretty good. He’s learning on the go a little bit. He’s faced some real tough matchups, he’s still finding a way to chip in a little bit offensively and, for the most part, done a nice job defensively as well.

“We’re pretty happy with what he’s done.”

On Friday, before his team’s walloping, Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskogtold NHL.com’s Tim Campbell that he felt his team had what it takes to make the playoffs, without the need to bring in any more talent at the trade deadline.

“I think for us, first and foremost, we’re focused on winning hockey games,” Landeskog said. “The trade deadline is what it is. We’re a team that’s pushing to get in and we’re just on the outside looking in right now and we’re focused on winning games. I believe with the team we have, we’re good enough to make the playoffs. We haven’t been favored by too many people to make the playoffs, but as long as the guys in here believe, I think we can do it.”

Whether they need help or not is certainly debatable, but Landeskog also said he believes any moves that general manager Joe Sakic would make would be minor. The thrashing they received at the hands of the Jets on Friday would suggest they need to do more than just stand pat.

But the injection of MacKinnon could act as a quasi-acquisition in its own right.

The Avs have a lot to do if they’re going to emerge out of the toughest division in the NHL. Getting MacKinnon back for the stretch drive can only help.

GANGNEUNG, South Korea (AP) — Hockey is a game of mistakes and it’s on display in fine form at the Olympics.

It doesn’t look beautiful, of course, with players all outside the NHL turning the puck over for point-blank scoring chances or leaving opponents wide open in front. The talent level is lower, so the risk factors and the entertainment level are up. Goaltenders have to be on their toes for unexpected, game-saving stops even more than usual.

”It’s a short tournament: A few mistakes can decide your fate,” Finland goaltender Karri Ramo said Saturday. ”You try to create more than carry it out of the zone, so obviously teams are trying to keep the puck and create scoring chances, so those mistakes happen. You’re not going to win if you play safe.”

There’s not a whole lot of safe, low-risk play so far, and scoring has increased as a result. After each team played twice, games were averaging 5.1 goals, up from 4.7 in Sochi with NHL players on the rosters.

Four years ago, the bigger international ice allowed eventual Olympic champion Canada to hold on to the puck and simply wear out other teams. This time, it’s being used as a canvas for offensive masterpieces being authored by players such as Finland’s Eeli Tolvanen , the United States’ Ryan Donato and the Russians’ Kirill Kaprizov.

Players with the ability to create and finish are taking advantage of the mistakes being made all over the ice and turning them into goals.

”I think every team’s mentality is to come here and play for a win, not to play not to lose,” Ramo said. ”So you’re trying to push it, and you’d rather lose trying than lose by playing too safe. It’s great to see. I think it’s great for the fans, and it’s great for the players, too, to get to kind of play that kind of game once in a while.”

Germany coach Marco Sturm said every team is trying to minimize mistakes while also pressuring teams hard, so there are more opportunities to force turnovers.

”A lot of teams now, they make the pressure up ice and that’s why a lot of mistakes we’re making,” Sturm said. ”It seems like that’s the trend right now.”

Canada gave up a goal when veteran defenseman Chris Lee whiffed on a puck and another when former NHL goaltender Ben Scrivens’ attempt to rim the puck around the boards went right to a Czech Republic player. Canada lost in a shootout that happened in part because the Czechs capitalized on blunders.

”It’s just different (than the NHL),” former NHL winger Martin Erat said.

In the NHL, Switzerland goaltender Jonas Hiller could count on sound play in front of him. In a blowout win over South Korea, Hiller said, ”a lot of stuff happened by accident, and that’s kind of tough as a goalie to read what’s going to happen.” Carey Price and Jonathan Quick in Sochi showed the value of great goaltending, and the impact is even bigger now.

”You have a good goaltender, he gives you an opportunity to win every night,” South Korea coach Jim Paek said after Matt Dalton made 38 saves to keep a game against the Czech Republic close.

A lot of games have been close, too. Six of the first 12 games were decided by a goal, and two of them went to overtime, which is a wild, back-and-forth Broadway show of 3-on-3 on big ice.

This is the first Olympics with 3-on-3 OT on ice that is 15 feet wider than NHL rinks, so Ramo doesn’t believe teams really prepared as much for it as those in North America. Canada and the Czech Republic went through a full five-minute OT and traded scoring chances for much of that time.

”All of us are in Europe, so we’re used to it,” Canada forward Wojtek Wolski said. ”You’ve got to really be ready to be jumping.”

Canada coach Willie Desjardin said the OT format was ”hard to play” Sturm said ”it’s a lot of skating,” and turnovers in OT – those mistakes again – can lead to not one scoring chance but many.

”It certainly is a game of possession,” Ramo said. ”Small details can decide who’s going to get the odd-man rush, who’s going to get the breakaway. … Whichever team has the possession of the puck more is more likely to win the 3-on-3.”